foot detox
Pollution, additives in the foods we eat and the air itself are all full of toxins that we breathe in day in and day out. They make us feel sluggish and tired and generally run us down. It’s no wonder then that many people are talking about detox treatments that supposedly rid our bodies of some of these toxins.
One of the most popular of the detox systems is the Ionic Foot Detox which is as simple as a foot bath but with results you won’t see in just regular water. You see, this system takes water, salt and a copper element or array and puts them all together with your feet to suck the toxins out.
These treatments can be found in spas, chiropractic offices and other healing centers and don’t have to be performed by a medical doctor. They are very un-invasive and, if you don’t believe they work, at least you get softer, fresher feet out of the deal.
You as the client put your feet into a bath of warm salty water and the array or element is placed in with your feet and then attached to the machine itself. Once the machine is on it first will charge the water positively and then negatively, effectively ionizing the water and splitting the water particles into H+ and OH ions.
Those ions then enter your body through the thousands of pores on the soles of our feet and travel the circulatory and lymphatic systems of the body. They neutralize oppositely charged ions that are connected to the toxins in each cell, and then the toxins leave the way the ions came in–through those pores in the feet.
For the first part of the treatment a client may see that the water is changing hue and turning a blue colour. There may also be foam and or flecks present. In the latter stages of the treatment however, the water will turn hues of orange, gold, brown or a combination of all three, there may also be black flecks present that have come off of the array itself during the treatment.
The ionic detox doesn’t hurt and can be safely done on anyone over the age of ten. Those with a pacemaker or a history of seizures shouldn’t use the system, but it’s otherwise perfectly safe for anyone else. Some of the benefits are pain relief, decreased swelling, and of course toxin reduction.
![jtw-elap-bathcolors[1]](https://www.ion-cleanser.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/jtw-elap-bathcolors1.jpg)
Ionic foot spas are supposed to neutralize and remove charged toxins from the body through pores in the feet. Here’s how the process is supposed to work: A bath of water, sea salt and a chemical array are charged with AC/DC current to separate the neutral water molecules into charged positive and negative (hydrogen and hydroxide) particles. The particles collect acidic, charged toxins from the body and pull them out of the body by osmosis (through a membrane from a low concentration to a high one). Each type of toxin produces different colors in the water after it is removed and is associated with the areas of the body that the toxin was pulled from.
Toxins removed from the urinary tract and kidney–and from the prostate or vaginal areas–turn the bath water yellow or yellowish green. Dark green water indicates the presence of gallbladder toxins. After these toxins are completely removed, the water becomes clear again or changes to a different colored toxin removal.
Orange, brown and black detoxify the liver area (from alcohol use or liver disease), joints (as with arthritis) and cellular waste products. In addition, brown water indicates tobacco removal from the body overall. Dark black flecks indicate iron and metal removal.
White coloring indicates clearance of problems in the lymphatic system, which is the system of passages that help the immune system distribute cells throughout the body. White particles that appear cheese-like indicate problems with yeast that are being removed.
Red coloring in the water, including red flecks, indicate removal of toxins associated with blood clotting and blood disorders, such as anemia. Similarly to other toxin removal, clearing of the water after red discoloration indicates that problems associated with that body area have been resolved.
Although discolorations are associated with the above-listed colors, the colors vary based on body composition, metal contents of the water in the area in which the person lives and diet. Repeated treatments may be necessary to ensure removal of all types of toxins. People with electrical implants, such as defibrillators, pregnant women and patients taking medication for organ transplantation or seizures should not use the ion foot bath. Also, according to SpaIndex.com: “The benefits of an Ionic foot bath are hotly contested by many organizations within the scientific, medical, aesthetic and alternative health care communities.” The site also warns against any spa or wellness facility that guarantees results.
There is some controversy over what happens to the water during a detox session. Sales people like to push the fact that the water changes from being clear to being quite dirty looking after a typical 30 minute detox session due mostly to the toxins being pulled out through the feet. Skeptics will quickly point out that the water will change color regardless of whether or not a persons feet are in the water. Experiments will confirm that the skeptics are correct in this case. The process of electrolysis and the ionic reaction that takes place will produce a color change. This reaction is influenced by whatever ionic particles are in the water. Different water from different regions, filtered water, biological contaminants from a persons feet or the container, will all influence what you see.
Proponents of detoxing with an ionic foot bath will not let the skeptics negate the positive effect experienced by so many people over recent years. When it comes to alternative medicine, not everything we experience has been proven or accepted by conventional western medicine. If it were, we would be a much healthier and happier society and much of the pharmaceutical industry would be out of work.
Many practitioners continue to use the colors as a gauge as to what part of the bodies are being affected. The general belief is that colors have unique vibrational energy signatures. These colors may have some connection to organs in the body. The traditional color chart shows which colors are believed to be associated with certain organs. While the colors have proven to be fascinating to observe over the years, many modern users recieve treatments and experiince the benefits of an ionic foot bath without paying attention to what the water looks like. No matter what, the feet are an excellent place for the body to absorb the healing negative ions.
Here is are some photos of a typical 30 minute detox session:
5)Detoxification Patches, Foot-baths and More: What Really Works?
Who remembers the famous “detox foot-baths” that were the talk of the industry around ten years ago? The detox 
foot-baths were precisely that, a foot-bath with warm salt solution that had two electrodes connected to a battery. One would place both feet inside the water and the battery was turned on, after ten minutes or so the color of the salt solution turned brown and emitted the distinctive odor of chlorine gas.
The enthusiasts would shout “Eureka!” while simultaneously pointing to the color and odor as sure signs that the body, which had undergone years of toxic insults through the improper diet of soda, processed foods, laden with high salt, fats, sugars as well as the consumption of the dreaded pharmaceuticals, was slowly but surely fighting back by releasing these toxins into the solution. Moreover, the chlorine odor was a confirmation of the detoxification process of the body.
The detox foot-baths sold like hot cakes and everyone was taken in, many a naturopath had these in their clinics and one had to pay ridiculous fees for a 15 minute treatment.
Science is a pleasurable profession, it is dynamic and vibrant and yet simple and transparent and open to testing by all. That is the beauty of science; every theory is ready to be disproven. That is how science progresses; it evolves by testing the current theory through countless experiments and this involves getting your hands dirty and perspiring a lot! Remember, science is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. It irks me to see that many of the so-called nutritional or health “experts” who have rarely done any scientific experiments short of high school science are nevertheless extolling the virtues of such phenomena as detox foot-baths, which have little or no scientific basis.
There is no detoxification process operating in the detox foot-baths. Rather, it is a simple case of electrolysis; the process which occurs when an electric current passes through salt solution via the battery. The brownish color is due to the iron electrode releasing iron ions (sorry about that) into the solution just like corrosion of iron. Since iron is a brownish/reddish color, that is the color imparted to the solution. What about the chlorine odor? Again, there is a simple chemical explanation. The salt solution is composed of sodium chloride, another name for salt, and electrolysis causes the sodium and chlorine (more accurately called chloride) ions to separate from each other with the chloride ions ending up at the positive terminal of the electrode and forming chlorine gas! End of mystery. No science, no detoxification, only charlatanism operating here.
This is just one example, but there are others like the detox “patches” or “slimming patches” which are all unscientific. Yet they continued to be sold without question. How does this portray our industry in the eyes of the regulators or the scientists and medical doctors?
Detoxification is a perfectly scientific process that can aid the well being of an individual, but this requires change of life style, one’s diet, regular exercise, living in a stress and pollution free environment and of course nutritional supplementation. The best way to detoxify is by getting the cells, more specifically, the liver and kidney cells, to be invigorated or stimulated.
The liver is the major organ for detoxification, it breaks down toxic substances and stores substances or metabolites. The kidney cells are also important because they are the key organ for excretion and getting rid of toxins before they can build up and cause damage.
Another tissue involved in detoxification is our digestive tract. Not only does the digestive tract break down, lubricate and provide digestive enzymes, the large intestines or the colon harbors vast reserves of bacteria, some good and others harmful. It is imperative that care is taken to ensure that the friendly bacteria greatly outweigh the not so friendly bacteria. This can be achieved through selecting a probiotic that has been clinically tested. Many products on the market are kitchen-sink formulas with a bunch of friendly bacteria thrown together. These combinations are often never tested and may not be able to survive the stomach acids, bile salts. There is also the danger that the bacteria are not compatible with each and can ‘cancel’ each other out.
Another key aspect of detoxification involves stimulating the phase II enzymes, a large family of multifunctional enzymes that virtually act as the gatekeeper to the cells’ health. These enzymes quickly act by adding various groups (like methyl, glucuronide or sulphate etc) to any chemical they encounter both foreign as well as native or endogenous compounds like hormones, making these compounds more soluble and thus removing them from the system via the kidneys. A number of natural products can powerfully stimulate these enzymes but the most potent are the isothiocyanates which are derived from cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale and bok-choy and are further converted in the body into sulforafane, the most known and potent stimulator.
It is only through the application of scientific principles applied to the field of nutrition that one can genuinely achieve detoxification, not through some hokey, quick-fix approach.
